Steel fasteners, clips, and other means, used for securing external structural component parts to internal component parts wherein the external structural component parts are exposed to hot or cold weather conditions, allow heat to escape from the thermally heated interior region of, for example, a building or dwelling, or alternatively, allow heat to effectively invade the thermally cooled or air-conditioned interior region of the building or dwelling, by thermal conductivity. For example, a conventional PRIOR ART clip and tab assembly, for fixedly securing roofing panels to an underlying roofing substructure, is disclosed within FIG. 1 and is generally indicated by the reference character 10. More particularly, it is seen that the conventional PRIOR ART clip and tab assembly 10 comprises a substantially L-shaped clip 12 comprising a vertically oriented long leg component 14 and a horizontally oriented short leg component 16. The horizontally oriented short leg component 16 is adapted to be seated upon and fixedly connected to a joist member of the underlying roofing substructure by means of, for example, screw fasteners, while the upper end portion of the vertically oriented long leg component 14 is provided with a pair of laterally spaced lugs 18,18 bent at an angle of substantially 90° with respect to the vertically oriented long leg component 14 so as to be disposed substantially parallel to the horizontally oriented short leg component 16, and a centrally located lug 20 which is also bent at an angle of substantially 90° with respect to the vertically oriented long leg component 14, so as to likewise be disposed substantially parallel to the horizontally oriented short leg component 16, the lugs 18, 20 extending in opposite directions. Taken together, the lugs 18,20 effectively define shelf, ledge, or support surfaces upon which mating crest portions of adjacent roofing panels, forming the roof decking, are adapted to be respectively seated.
A tab member 22 is fixedly mounted upon the vertically oriented long leg component 14 of the clip 12 by means of a dimpled detent 24 or the like for permitting the tab member 22 to be retained at the central position upon the clip 12 but nevertheless movable toward the left or right as viewed in the drawing figure, while the horizontally oriented leg component 16 of the clip 12 is adapted to be fixedly connected to a joist member, not shown, of an underlying roofing substructure. The upper end portion of the tab member 22 is provided with a substantially arcuate portion 26 which is adapted to internally accommodate an upstanding portion of one of the mating adjacent roofing panels while the upstanding portion of the other one of the mating adjacent roofing panels is adapted to be disposed upon the external surface region of the arcuate portion 26 of the tab member 22 such that the two upstanding portions of the mating adjacent roofing panels form with the arcuate portion 26 of the tab member 22 a three-piece sandwich or laminated structure. In this manner, when such sandwich or laminated structure, comprising the pair of upstanding portions of the mating adjacent roofing panels and the arcuate portion 26 of the tab member 22, is subsequently rolled and crimped, the mating adjacent roofing panels are fixedly secured to the joist member of the underlying roofing substructure through means of the clip and tab assembly 10. An outwardly projecting portion 28 of the tab member 22, disposed within the slot 30 of the vertical leg 14 of the clip 12 permits the tab member 22, and the adjacent roofing panels connected thereto, to undergo lateral movement in accordance with expansion and contraction conditions attendant the roofing panels. With the aforenoted clip and tab assembly 10, it can readily be appreciated, however, that a thermal flow path is directly established or defined between the joist member, which is disposed internally within the building structure, and the roofing panels which are disposed externally of the building structure through means of the clip 12 and the tab member 22, as well as the screws securing the clip 12 to the underlying joist member. Accordingly, heat from the heated environment disposed or contained internally within the building structure can effectively escape to the outside cold weather environment, or alternatively, heat from the outside hot weather environment can effectively invade the cooled or air-conditioned environment disposed or contained internally within the building structure. A need therefore existed in the art for effectively breaking or interrupting the aforenoted thermal flow path so as to terminate or prevent the egress or ingress of the heat or thermal energy out from or into the building structure.
Accordingly, the thermal breaker or thermal barrier assembly, as disclosed within FIG. 2 and generally indicated by the reference character 110, was developed in an attempt to address and resolve the aforenoted problems or deficiencies characteristic of the clip and tab assembly 10 disclosed within FIG. 1. More particularly, the thermal breaker or thermal barrier assembly 110 is seen to comprise a thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 which is fabricated from a suitable plastic material by means of an injection molding process, and it is seen that the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 comprises a horizontally disposed lower base portion 114 and an upper domed portion 116. The lower base portion 114 is adapted to be seated upon and secured to a joist member 118 of the underlying roofing substructure, and the upper domed portion 116 is seen to have a substantially diamond-shaped cross-sectional configuration. More particularly, it is seen that the upper domed portion 116 has oppositely disposed inclined surface regions 120,122, as well as an upper substantially planar surface region 124 which is disposed substantially parallel to the horizontally oriented lower base portion 114.
In this manner, side edge portions of a pair of adjacent roofing panels 126,128 can be supported upon the oppositely disposed inclined surface regions 120,122, as well as upon the upper substantially planar surface region 124, of the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 so as to be mated and connected together. The central region of the upper domed portion 116 of the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 is provided with a slot 130 having a substantially inverted T-shaped cross-sectional configuration, and a clip 132, having a substantially T-shaped cross-sectional configuration, is disposed in an inverted mode such that the head portion 134 of the clip 132 is disposed internally within the transverse portion of the slot 130 while the opposite free end portion 136 of the clip 132 projects outwardly from the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 so as to be operatively crimped together with the side edge portions of the pair of adjacent roofing panels 126,128, thereby fixedly securing the pair of adjacent roofing panels 126,128 to the joist member 118 of the underlying substructure.
While the aforenoted thermal breaker or thermal barrier 110 ostensibly appears to resolve the problems noted hereinbefore with respect to the conventional PRIOR ART clip and tab assembly 10 as disclosed within FIG. 1, in that a thermal breaker or thermal barrier is in fact effectively interposed between the joist member 118 and the pair of mated roofing panels 126,128, the thermal breaker or thermal barrier assembly 110 nevertheless still poses or exhibits some undesirable operational and fabrication characteristics. For example, since the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 is fabricated by injection molding techniques, and since the volume encompassed by means of the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 is substantial, in that the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 has a length dimension of eight inches (8.00″) and a height dimension of two inches (2.00″), the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 is costly to manufacture due to material costs and injection molding cycle time. In addition, even though the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 is in fact fabricated from a suitable plastic material, it is noted that a predetermined axially located region of the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 has its complete undersurface portion of the base portion 114 disposed in contact with the underlying joist member 118, while the upper domed region 116 of the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 has its inclined surface portions 120,122, and its upper planar portion 124, disposed in complete surface contact with the pair of mated adjacent roofing panels 126,128.
Accordingly, since the roofing panels 126,128 are exposed, for example, to cold external atmospheric air, while the joist member 118 is exposed to an internally heated environment, or alternatively, since the roofing panels 126,128 are exposed, for example, to hot external atmospheric air, while the joist member 118 is exposed to an internally cooled or air-conditioned environment, the thermal path extending between the interior of the building structure and the external atmospheric environment remains intact whereby heat loss or egress of thermal energy out from the interior of the building structure, or the ingress of thermal energy into the building structure, can effectively continue at an undesirable rate. Still yet further, it is noted that the clip 132 is fabricated as a single sheet member which is effectively folded in a predetermined manner, and along predetermined fold lines, so as to effectively form the final clip structure. It is noted, however, that the folded and mated regions of the clip are not in fact fixedly secured with respect to each other. Accordingly, wind uplift forces can cause the clip 132 to fail in view of the fact that the wind uplift forces will not be evenly impressed upon or evenly distributed throughout the various sections or regions of the clip 132.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved thermal breaker or thermal barrier assembly which is capable of being manufactured in a cost-effective manner, which effectively rectifies the deficiencies characteristic of the conventional PRIOR ART thermal breaker or thermal barrier structures so as to in fact significantly reduce the amount of heat loss or egress of thermal energy out from the interior of the building structure, or the ingress of thermal energy into the building structure, and which comprises a clip member, for effectively connecting together the edge portions of the adjacent roofing panels, which is rigidified in a predetermined manner so as to effectively reinforce itself and thereby be capable of resisting wind uplift forces such that the clip member does not exhibit failure under wind uplift force conditions.